Jude Law (centre) speaks during a visit to the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp in Calais on 21 February to draw attention to the plight of refugees facing imminent eviction.
Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

Jude Law, Dominic West and Benedict Cumberbatch are among a group of prominent actors and public figures who will each sponsor an unaccompanied child living in the migrant camp in Calais, to help reunite them with their families in the UK.

The celebrities, including musician and producer Brian Eno, actor Juliet Stevenson and Michael Morpugo, the children’s author, have each signed up to a buddy system, to support unaccompanied minors in the “Jungle” migrant camp with UK links.

They have agreed to visit them in France or their families in the UK, to contribute towards their legal and humanitarian costs and to urge the British and French governments to provide safe passage for all unaccompanied children.

Speaking from Calais, Stevenson said the buddy scheme was a “brilliant idea”.

“Each person is responsible for this one child and can bring pressure to bear on the government,” said Stevenson.

The actor described the eviction of migrants by the French authorities this week as “brutal and horrific”, but said she hoped the spotlight on the camp’s demolition would be a catalyst for action, as it has drawn attention to the plight of minors. “The great fear is that kids will go off the radar and be subjected to traffickers and exposed to all sorts of dangers,” she said.

Stevenson will deliver a double-decker bus she bought on ebay for £5500 to the camp’s children’s centre on Friday, after hearing from volunteers working with minors that it might make a good mobile home.

Citizens UK has estimated that 150 children in the camp have a legal right to reunite with their families in the UK. The charity currently has 70 active cases with children in Calais, and estimates that there are another 80 who would qualify for family reunion.

The buddy scheme initiative – organised by a collaboration of refugee organisations including Citizens UK, Help Refugees and Good Chance Calais – was announced after President François Hollande called on the UK government to speed up the process of reuniting unaccompanied minors with their families in Britain.

Hollande said on Thursday that if children in Calais had UK families they “should go to the United Kingdom quickly and efficiently”.

The “Jungle” shantytown, which houses up to 3,500 refugees and migrants trying to reach the UK, is being partially dismantled by French authorities following an order from the French prefecture. Some of the wooden shacks housing children have already been destroyed.

Earlier this year, four Syrian refugees were admitted to the UK by order of the British courts, a move thought to set a limited precedent and raise hopes a couple of hundred minors with families in the UK could also be admitted.

Refugee groups warned that due to the evictions at the camp this week minors were more at risk because they were harder to reach.

Major Nick Coke, of Raynes Park Salvation Army and Citizens UK, said: “With evictions beginning in earnest and these minors’ homes being demolished we must act urgently to ensure these children are not lost, scattered across northern France and away from the humanitarian protection they need and the legal support they require to reunite with their loved ones.”

Josie Naughton of Help Refugees said: “No human should have to endure the awful conditions of the Calais ‘Jungle’ let alone children who have loving homes to go to. We welcome the buddies to our team and are grateful for their assistance in helping us provide humanitarian aid to these children while they wait for reunification or proper protection from the authorities.”

A statement on behalf of the celebrities said: “We call on the British and French authorities to immediately make provisions for the safe passage of all the unaccompanied minors and refugee children identified by Citizens UK with verified family connections to Britain.

“These children have a full legal right to reunite with their loved ones. It is unacceptable that they are left in danger and distress for administrative convenience. The system established to reunite these families must either be set aside, or made to work as a matter of extreme urgency.

“We are each buddying with one unaccompanied minor to ensure that they receive the humanitarian support they need and to personally insist that both governments honour their obligations to these children.”

Law and Cumberbatch were among 145 figures who signed a letter to David Cameron last month, urging him to take action to postpone the demolition of part of the Calais camp, until the unaccompanied minors are either given full child protection within the French system or reunited with families in the UK.

Those who have signed up to the buddy system include actors Gillian Anderson, Stephen Daldry, Laura Bailey, authors Ali Smith and Andrew O’Hagan, journalist and television presenters Mariella Frostrup and Mark Cousins, comedian Shappi Khorsandi, and Sir Christopher Bland, former ITV deputy chairman.